Swiss experimental electro-acoustic artist Israel Quellet has worked in the psychiatric field for several years. At 16, he discovered his own different sound worlds, such as Miles Davis' electric era, Sun Ra, dub, German cosmic music, Magma, Zappa, and many more. In 1997, he stepped into the action and, following the advice of a sound engineer friend, bought microphones, a digital mixing board, and studio monitors. Basically, he turned part of his basement into a sound-smithing studio. That is when he started to create, out of his immediate surroundings, sound works that have little to do with what is normally being done. Appreciated by composer Jorge E. Campos, Quellet is supported by the Centre Pierre Schaeffer in Paris. In 2003, he contacted Sub Rosa. Three years later, he was releasing his first public recording. This CD represents the end of his trilogy, but certainly not the end of his adventure into sound. Concerning this new opus, he says: "I was going for a raw sound, close to the actual sounds made by the instruments and sources, with minimal dressing-up. The organ's sub-bass frequencies include extremely low frequencies." His range of instruments: Church organ, tympanies, bass drum, large drum, tubular idiophones, toms, cymbals, hi-hat, voices (sped-up, slowed-down, texts in Latin) plus stokes and hits (slammed doors and various materials hit in various ways).

Electro-acoustic out-sound experimentician Israël Quellet was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland in 1972, and this is his second release for the Sub Rosa label -- the fifth volume in their Musics in the Margin series. At 16 years-old, the artist discovered sound-worlds such as Miles Davis' electric era, Sun Ra, dub, German cosmic music, Magma, Zappa, and many more. In 1997, he stepped into the musical fray and, following the advice of a sound engineer friend, bought microphones, a digital mixing board, and studio monitors, turning part of his basement into a soundsmithing studio. That is when he started to create, out of his immediate surroundings, soundworks that have little to do with what is "normally" being done. Appreciated by Ecuadoran electro-acoustic composer Jorge E. Campos, Quellet is supported by the Centre Pierre Schaeffer in Paris. This second work for Sub Rosa explores common objects and the problem of saturation and noise. The artist explains in his own words: "I made the sounds while I was recording, either alone or with the help of my wife. Once a piece has been edited together, the final mixing is performed live, without automation. In order to retain the original dynamics, I do not use compression or any other specific mastering technique designed to equalize the sound or spatialize the stereo image. However, the heavy saturation used in some pieces limits the range of dynamics. The diverse sounds and the diverse means used to capture them give each piece a different overall sound and stereo image. Therefore, the pieces are not standardized or calibrated systematically; they do not all sound the same."

Israël Quellet was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland in 1972, and this is his first recorded release. At 16, he discovered on his own some different sound-worlds, such as Miles Davis' electric era, Sun Ra, dub, German cosmic music, Magma, Zappa and many more. In 1997, he stepped into the musical fray and, following the advice of a sound engineer friend, bought microphones, a digital mixing board, and studio monitors, turning part of his basement into a soundsmithing studio. That is when he started to create, out of his immediate surroundings, soundworks that have little to do with what is "normally" being done. Appreciated by Ecuadoran electro-acoustic composer Jorge E. Campos, Quellet is supported by the Centre Pierre Schaeffer in Paris. In 2003, he contacted Sub Rosa. Now, three years later, he is releasing his first public recording. Quellet's music is not really outsider sound art, but it shares strong similarities with it. It explores a debarred universe almost impossible to escape. Oppressum is a minute -- albeit extreme -- exploration of sound (particularly through saturation), mystical discourse and excesses. However, the composer is also pictured as a regular guy living in a Swiss town, a guy who likes to toy with the local church's organ, accompanied by his wife. Sound materials come from a number of sources: the local church's organ, rented or borrowed percussion instruments (bass-drum, timbales, gong, djembe), various objects being struck (his oil tank at home struck with hammers and iron rods), pipes, faucets, telephone touch pads, power tools, sound-producing toys, voice, mouth sounds, throat sounds, and wheelbarrows. You get the picture. Of his work Quellet says: "The diverse sounds and the diverse means used to capture them give each piece a different overall sound and stereo image. Therefore, the pieces are not standardized or calibrated systematically; they do not all sound the same."